Speaking at the boat show in Paris he said, “Everything will be ready and we’ll do everything necessary to be up to the task.”

He added, “What we’re missing today is the big hotels, but everything has been cleaned up, there has been a lot of work done by the residents of St Barts.”

The island of St Barts was devastated three months ago by Hurricane Irma. According to Michel Magras, 4,000 homes are still in need of repair.

The AG2R race, a double transatlantic race created in 1992, has always finished in St Barts. For this 14th edition, it will leave Concarneau, in Brittany, on April 22. In an act of solidarity, the departure city in northwest France has been collecting equipment for fishermen on St Barts.

The crossing should last about 3 weeks. Seventeen duos have already registered.

As the Senator pointed out, he wants tourism, an economic sector which the island depends upon heavily, to return to St Barts.